| Contents |
Part one: The Baroque attitude. Composer and performer. Why a book on performing baroque music? ; Encouraging individuality in the performer ; Keeping in style ; Being faithful to history ; Aiming at substantial authenticity -- Feeling in Baroque music. Strong feeling appropriate in baroque music ; Evidence of strong feeling in baroque music ; Varieties of feeling in baroque music ; Adding baroque styles to one's resources -- The text and the performer. Three areas of hidden difference ; Back to the original text? ; Editions scholarly and unscholarly ; Be your own editor -- Style and the performer. Relying less on the text and more on the style ; A preference for spontaneity ; Notes left to the performer ; Expression left to the performer ; Composer and performer ; Substance not semblance ; Asking the right questions -- Performing spontaneously. In baroque music the performer is king ; Recapturing a baroque spontaneity ; Editor and performer -- Part two: The Baroque sound. Sound and sense ; Matching the sound to music ; Transparency and incisiveness ; The choice of instruments and the use of instruments -- The choice of instruments. Instruments largely a performer's choice ; The baroque orchestra more colourful than standardized ; The orchestral continuo ; Conducting ; Pitch and temperament ; The effectiveness of authentic sonorities ; How far compromise is desirable -- The use of instruments. Use of instruments as important as choice ; Good baroque music never mechanical ; Electronic Bach ; Flexibility necessary to baroque performance ; Mental image and acoustic limits ; A practicable baroque orchestra -- The voice. The decline in voice-production ; Descriptions of baroque voice-production ; Recordings of bel canto voice-production ; The decline of the bel canto style ; The probable similarity of all bel canto technique ; Main features of bel canto technique ; The necessity for bel canto ; The revival of the countertenor voice ; The loss of the castrato voice ; Bel canto and the baroque choir -- Strings. Adapting technique to style ; Changes in fittings ; Changes in the bow ; The double-bass ; Holding the instrument ; Holding the bow ; Finger technique ; Vibrato ; Bow technique ; The family of viols ; Plucked instruments -- Wind and percussion. The winds more variable than the strings ; The flutes ; The reeds ; The brass ; The drums and other percussion -- Keyboards. Changing preferences in keyboard instruments ; The harpsichord ; The clavichord ; The organ -- Part three: The notes. The problem of accidentals ; Why baroque accidentals are difficult ; Baroque signs for accidentals ; Key signatures ; Baroque accidentals affected by context ; How far forward do baroque accidentals work? ; Where do baroque accidentals work backwards too? ; When did our bar-line convention come in? -- The treatment of accidentals. Certain considerations helpful over accidentals ; Accidentals in figured bass ; Tablature as a check on accidentals ; Consistency as a guide to accidentals ; Indications from the melody ; Indications from the harmony ; Precautionary accidentals ; Certain situations requiring accidentals ; Sharpening the leading note -- ; Sharp six implied by sharp seven ; Flattening at the peak of a phrase ; Sharpening at the trough of a phrase ; Avoiding undesired tritones ; Introducing the Picardy Third ; Taking responsibility for baroque accidentals -- Ornamentation. Ornamentation a necessity in baroque music ; Ornamentation in the reciting style ; Vocal ornamentation for its own sake ; Instrumental ornamentation ; Baroque ornamentation in practice -- Ornaments. Simplifying the complexity of baroque ornaments ; Appoggiaturas ; The so-called 'passing appoggiatura' ; Appoggiaturas in recitative ; The acciaccatura and the slide ; Tremolo and vibrato ; Trills ; Mordents ; Turns and other changing or passing notes ; Compound ornaments -- Accompaniment. The wide variety of baroque accompaniment ; Improvisation the best realization ; The harmony of the accompaniment ; How full an accompaniment ; How correct an accompaniment ; How widely spaced an accompaniment ; How independent an accompaniment ; What instruments of accompaniment ; Accompanying recitative ; Instruments for accompanying recitative ; Handel as accompanist ; The delayed cadence in recitative -- Part four: The expression. Tempo. Musicianship the necessary judge of tempo ; Time-words vague and misleading ; Time-signatures in chaotic confusion ; Tempo judged by dancing speeds ; Tempo judged from the character of the music ; Variations of tempo ; The timing of recitative ; Rallentandos -- Rhythm. Conventions of rhythmic alteration ; Inequality ; Varieties of inequality ; Conditions for inequality ; Examples of inequality ; Dotting ; Varieties of dotting ; Conditions for variable dotting ; Examples of variable dotting ; Triplets ; French overture style ; French overture style in practice ; Tempo Rubato in the baroque sense -- Punctuation. Phrasing ; Articulation ; Underlay -- Dynamics. Louds and softs ; Crescendos and diminuendos ; The overall dynamics and the fine fluctuations ; Balance ; Accentuation ; The hemiola -- Then and now. The pleasure of unfamiliarity ; The pleasure of naturalness ; The point of authenticity. |
| Abstract |
This book makes available the fruit of a lifetime's research into baroque performing practice. Drawing on the encyclopaedic wealth of material in the author's classic studies, it supplies a basic grounding for students, performers and all early music enthusiasts. From the teeming abundance and confusion of the contemporary evidence, the author has here picked out all the essential information which the modern musician needs to guide his own interpretative decisions. Wherever possible this is cited in the words of the baroque composers and writers themselves. |
| Local note | Little-83421--305131057740- |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-306) and index. |
| LCCN | 72003659 |
| Stock number | $20.00 |
